Superheater support tubes arranged in a row with a manway through the row



J. PUHR-WESTERHEIDE 2,956,786 SUPERHEATER SUPPORT TUBES ARRANGED IN AROW WITH A MANWAY THROUGH THE ROW Filed Dec. 5, 1955 Oct. 18, 1960 FIG.655 26AA 268B 26CC I i 72 7s 70 l F 7a 2 A.

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F|G.4 261 26y zap 26o 26 3s yam ATTORNEY United States Patent OSUPERHEATER SUPPORT TUBES ARRANGED IN A ROW WI'II-I A MAN-WAY THROUGHTHE ROW Jurgen Puhr-Westerheide, Oberhausen, Germany, assignor to TheBabcock & Wilcox Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New JerseyFiled Dec. s, 1955, Ser. No. 551,143

Claims priority, application Germany Feb. 2'3, 1955 Claims. (Cl.257-230) This invention relates to a type of fluid heat exchangeapparatus in which a bank of closely spaced tubes, subject to the flowof high temperature heating gases, is supported by a row of uprighttubes closely spaced, with the upright tubes interspersed between thetubes of said bank. The pertinent apparatus involves a heat insulat-2,956,786 Patented-Oct- 1 959.

I of the means for holding adjacent tubes in their maning enclosureincluding walls forming a gas pass in which the bank of tubes is subjectto the upward or downward flow of the high temperature gases;

Withm the enclosure there are a number of gas spaces atleast two ofwhich are disposed above the bank. of tubes andare separated by the rowof closely spaced upright tubes. A wall of the enclosure'along the sideof one of such spaces is providedwith anopening constituting a manwayfor access to the tl b of the apparatus in one of such spaces, and thewall of upright tubes is provided with means holding portions ofadjacent upright tubes in more widely spaced relationship to provide amanway in order that there might be access to a second gas space fromthe first space.

The invention will be set forth in a concise manner in the appendedclaims, but for a complete understanding of the invention, its uses, andadvantages, recourse should be had to the following description whichrefers to the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a part of a high pressure steamgenerator which is representative of the type of fluid heat exchangeapparatus with which the invention is concerned. This figure shows anarrangement including three (3) gas spaces above a bank of closelyspaced convection heating tubes with a manway opening in the enclosurewall for each of said spaces. This is an arrangement over which theinvention presents a substantial improvement;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary horizontal section of a part of the Fig. 1arrangement, on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a partial vertical section similar to Fig. 1, but illustratingthe novel arrangement of the parts embodied in the invention, with butone manway in the adjacent enclosure wall serving, with the tube wallmanways of this invention, for access to the three gas spaces above thebank of tubes;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section on the plane indicated by thesection line 44 of Fig. 3 showing adjacent tubes of an upright wall ofclosely spaced bank supporting tubes held in more widely spacedrelationship to present a manway through that wall;

Fig. 5 involves a fragmentary elevation and fragmen' t-ary horizontalsection of a modification similar to Fig. 4, showing means for holdingadjacent tubes in a modified spaced relationship;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevation showing an additional modifiedarrangement of means for holding parts of adjacent tubes of the uprighttube wall in their manway spaced relationship; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary elevation of the manway part of the upright tubewall showing a further modification way forming relationship. I a a Thehigh pressure steam generator, representative of the convection fluidheat exchange apparatus of the invention may be of the type illustratedby U.S.. Patent 2,681,641 wherein heating gases leaving the furnace 10-flow into and downwardly through an upright gas pass; 52. As shown inthe embodiments of the present invention, gases from a furnace, suchasshown in said patent, flow through the opening 10, above the top ofthe furnace wall 12, into the gas turning space 14 at the top of adownflow gas pass 16. This gas pass-hasother: walls, such as 18 and 20,which are representative of the heat insulating walls for the apparatus.

Within the downfiow gas pass 1 6 there is disposed a bank 22 of closelyspaced tubes which may constitute a part of a convection steamsuperhe'ater, superheating steam received from a steam and water drumwhich is supplied with incoming steam and water mixtures'by steamgenerating furnace wall tubes, -a manner well knownin the i? The bank 22of superheater tubesfis supported by upright walls 24 and 26 of closelyspaced tubes, arranged in interspersed relationship toth'e tubes of thebank of tubes 22, such relationship being indicated in Fig. 2 of thedrawing. The wall formed by the row of tubes 26 separates the gas spaces28 and Mid the gas-turning space 14 and, similarly, the wall formedbythe upright tubes 24 separates the' gas spaces30 and 32. l 4

For the purposes of inspection, repair, or other maintenance of theapparatus, access must be provided whereby a workman may enter the gasspaces 28, 30 and 32. For the purposes of such access the wall 18 isprovided with an access opening 34. This opening affords a manway to thegas space 30, and is provided with a closed door 35.

The invention involves means for holding adjacent tubes of the walls oftubes 24 and 26 in more widely spaced relationship at a position abovethe bank of tubes 22 to provide a manway such as that indicated at 36 inFig. 7. This arrangement provides for access to the gas spaces 28 and32, with but a single manway such as 34 in the wall of the enclosure andthus promotes eflicient operation of the apparatus by reducing gasleakage such as might be involved in apparatus involving twice thenumber of enclosure wall manways such as those of the prior art, asindicated at 38 and 40 in Fig. 1.

In the tube wall manway construction of Fig. 7 opposite tubes such as26A and 26B are bent outwardly as indicated at 26C and 26D. Adjoiningtubes 26E, 26F, 26G, 26H, 26] and 26K are similarly bent and these bentout tube portions are held in their Fig. 7 relationships by inter-tubeplates such as those indicated at 42-45, preferably welded to theadjacent and contacting tubes.

The modified tube wall manway construction of Fig. 4 involves theinwardly bent portions 26M and 260 of tubes 26P and 26Q, these bent outportions being held in the illustrative relationship by the inter-tubeplates 26R and 26S, welded to the tubes which they contact. Similarlyarranged and constructed portions of the tubes 26T and 26V cooperatewith the tube portions 260 and 26M to provide the manway 26W.

Fig. 5 shows a further modification in which the tubes 26' and 26" havethe manway portions 50 and 52 bent inwardly and held in their operativepositions by the plates 54 and 56 welded to the contacting tubes asindicated at 58-60.

The Fig. 6 modification shows the tubes 26AA, 26BB and 26CC held intheir operative relationships by tube connecting plates 70-74, theseplates being secured to the tubes as by welding, indicated at 76 and 78.The plates 72 and 74 may be regarded as compression members and the"plate 73 may be regarded as a traction plate.

The upright tubes of the tube walls 24 and 26 may be appropriatelysupported from positions above the gas spaces by appropriate hangerswhich are in turn secured to superposed steel work in the manner inwhich the tubes 80 of the Patent 2,681,641 are supported. Such supportsmay involve a header, similar to the header 68 of that patent, to whichthe tubes of the walls 24 and/or 26 are secured, with the header, inturn, pendently supported by hangers from superimposed steel work.

The tubes of the rows 24 and 26 may also have appropriate lugs or othersupporting means of conventional type (not shown) secured thereto andextending laterally therefrom beneath the transversely extending tubesof the bank of tubes 22 in order to support the latter in theiroperative spaced relationships indicated in the drawing.

Whereas the invention has been described as relating to the details ofcertain preferred embodiments, the invention is not to be considered aslimited to all of the details of the embodiment. It is rather to beconsidered as of a scope commensurate with the scope of the sub-joinedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vapor generator, wall means forming a gas pass, a bank ofhorizontally disposed spaced superheater tubes arranged within said gaspass for flow of high temperature gases transversely over and betweenthe tubes, a row of upright closely spaced vapor generating tubes withthe upright tubes extending through intertu-be spaces of said bank andarranged in heat exchange contact therewith to take the load of saidbank, means anchoring the upright tubes at their upper parts, meansforming a closeable manway access opening in a wall of said gas passabove said bank of superheater tubes, the row of upright tubesseparating adjacent spaces above the bank and the predominant spacing ofthe tubes of the row being much less than that required for a manwaythrough the row, corresponding portions of adjacent tubes being bent outof and returned to tube alignment in the plane of the tube row toincrease the spacing between tubes and provide a manway therebetween,and metallic spacer means holding the bent portions of the upright tubesof said row in said increased spacing, each of said spacer means beingunitary and attached to a bent tube and to an adjacent tube spaced fromsaid manway.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said metallic spacer meansconsists of plates each welded to one of said bent tubes and to at leastsaid adjacent tube.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said metallic spacer meansconsists of bars each welded to one of said bent tubes and to at leastsaid adjacent tube, and where some of said bars are under tension andothers are under compression.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,906,633 Lasker May 2, 1933 1,935,272 Kuhner Nov. 14, 1933 2,069,834Jackson et al Feb. 9, 1937 2,328,039 Toomey et a1. Aug. 31, 19432,346,715 Woodard et a1 Apr. 18, 1944 2,477,950 Bailey Aug. 2, 19492,681,641 Andrews et a1. June 22, 1954 2,754,807 Smith July 17, 1956

